Improvement in metallic fence-posts



EKG. McVITTY. Metallic Pence Post.

No. 201,547. Patented March 19, 1878.

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' To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ELIAS C. MCVITTY, of:

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

ELIAS G. MGVITTY, OF KENTON, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT m METALLIC FENCE-POSTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 201,547, dated March 19, 1878; application filed October 17, 1877.

Kenton, in the county of Hardin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Fence Posts, of which the following is a specification:

My invention has for its object the construction of a cheap and substantial fence-post especially adapted for use with wire fencing.

The advantages of wire fences, and especially the barbed-wire fence, over all others are well known throughout those regions of country where timber is scarce.

Up to the present time, however, wooden posts have been exclusively used in the con struction of these fences, as far as I can learn, the wires being connected with such posts by means of hooks or staples.

The disadvantages resulting from the use of such wooden posts are very great. The principal ones, beside their rapid destruction from natural or accidental causes, may be enumerated as follows: First, when it is desired to substitute barbed wire for ordinary wire fencing, the staples have to be drawn in order to insert the barbed wire, or they have to be replaced by hooks, which are not very safe, as the wires may be pushed or slipped out of them, the drawing of these staples being not only diflicult, but resulting often in the destruction of the post; secondly, the hooks or staples are apt to work loose in a short time, not onlyfrom atmospheric action or influences, but also from the intermittent strain upon these fastenings by the contraction of the wires; and, finally, the action of the wires upon the posts themselves, which continually tends to lift them (the posts) up in the postholes, requiring frequent resetting.

To obviate these difficulties, and to produce a fence-post more durable in better resisting atmospheric influences, and that will not burn, I have devised a metallic fence-post, the cost of which will be but a trifle above that of the wooden posts now employed.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown in perspective a section of wire fencing with my improved metallic posts.

A is the post, for which I employ ordinary T- rail iron, such as may be turned out by any rolling-mill. I prefer this shape of post because they afford better hold when set in the ground,

and also better bearing-surfaces for the wires when used as end posts. 7

-'The flange a of the post is provided with a series of vertical slots, b, terminatingina circular slot, 0, thus forming a tongue, at, which may be slightly closed by a tap of a hammer on the upper end d after the wires are inserted, the circular enlarged slot 0 affording ample room for contraction of the wire or for play of such wire when contracted by atmospheric influence, thus relieving the post of all strain and the consequent tendency of being lifted out of the ground by this strain. It further obviates the necessity of driving hooks or staples and the difficulties attendant upon their removal when the fence is to be removed or barbed wire substituted for other common wire.

The metallic posts being of malleable iron, the slots may be readily reopened when desired to remove the wires.

B is a clip or clamp, adapted to be driven over the flanges a of the post A. This clip is provided with one or more nearly-circular recesses, 0, into which the ends 0 of the braces are inserted, or, more properly, the clip B is driven over the ends 6 of the braces E, which are sprung up to the posts after being driven into the ground.

When the posts A are employed as end or corner posts, the flanges a are provided with circular notches a the position of these notches being coincident with the circular slots 0 at the lower end of the vertical slots 12, so that the wire may be carried around the post and lie within these notches, as will be readily understood and in this case the slots 6 cmay be dispensed with, when the wires are made fast to end posts or carried around corner-posts, as such wires may be twisted once or twice around the post and lie within the notches a, being thus held securely in position. v

E E are the braces, consisting of the body or main portion 0, the upper bent leg e, and the lower longer angular leg 6 which latter is driven into the ground, so that the said leg 8 converges toward the post either from each side of such post or from the rear thereof, or both, as is the case with end posts, thus affording a very strong bracing with compara tively thin metallic rods, as plainly shown in the drawings.

Instead of forming recesses into the clip or clamp B, loops or eyes may be formed on its face to receive the ends of the braces, or sleeves or sockets may be formed on the clip or clamp, or any otherequivalent means may be provided to hold the ends of the brace-rods upon the post. Theform of clamp here shown being this.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a wire fence, the'slotted post A, constructed as described, in combination with the clip or clampB, provided with recesses c, as described, and the brace-rods E, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A metallic T-shaped fence-post, provided with slots 1) 0 on one flange or plate, and semicircular notches or recesses upon the other flanges or plate, substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

3. The T-shaped postA, in combination with the clip or clamp B and the brace-rods E, having their opposite ends bent at opposite angles to each other, substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of October, 1877.

ELIAS C. MoVITTY.

Witnesses:

'1. E. STRONG, A. L. ALLEN. 

